Conflict theory asserts that economic stratification threatens social order. As such, increased economic inequalities within a nation should lead to the greater use of coercive control to maintain order. Police are the main agents of social control in advanced nations, yet little is known about the effects of economic inequalities on police size. The current study collected data on the number of law enforcement employees in 11 nations: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. A fixed-effects panel design estimated the ratio of police employees to national populations for the years 1975 through 1994 in most of the nations. Other variables included in the analysis were minority presence and unemployment, as well as economic development, urbanism, crime, and social disorganization. When the latter four variables were held constant, economic inequality and crime rates influenced police strength in the last years of the sample, but minority presence was predictive of police strength only in the United States. These findings suggest that formal control, such as domestic law enforcement, is likely to be expanded when economic inequality threatens the internal stability of advanced nations. The clear finding that economic inequality is predictive of police strength supports the assertion of conflict theory that the agencies responsible for maintaining social order with force primarily protect the affluent members of society. Tables, figures, appendix, references